Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Free Report) by 473.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,770 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,764 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $1,638,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,672,134 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $8,422,435,000 after buying an additional 3,851,661 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 10,067,647 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,857,737,000 after buying an additional 305,876 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,199,413 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,327,403,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910,471 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,277,993 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,779,248,000 after purchasing an additional 787,265 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,421,591,000. Institutional investors own 85.53% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AJG. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $307.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $352.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $370.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $308.00 to $346.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $318.57.

Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

In other news, VP Scott R. Hudson sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.17, for a total transaction of $3,540,285.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 91,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,741,474.75. This represents a 10.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Susan E. Pietrucha sold 13,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.13, for a total transaction of $4,645,755.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,941 shares in the company, valued at $4,109,256.33. This represents a 53.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,510 shares of company stock worth $11,033,341 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Price Performance

Shares of AJG stock traded up $5.74 on Friday, hitting $347.64. 2,545,224 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,329,515. The firm has a market cap of $89.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.32 and a beta of 0.78. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a 52 week low of $250.51 and a 52 week high of $350.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $332.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $315.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.85 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 12.70% and a return on equity of 16.47%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s payout ratio is 37.63%.

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Profile

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co engages in the provision of insurance brokerage, reinsurance brokerage, consulting, and third-party claims settlement and administration services. It operates through the following segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations.